Question Answer Relationships
Many times students become confused and are challenged with answering comprehension questions simply because they do not understand what the question is asking them. By teaching students how to recognize different types of question and how to answer those, the students will gain skills that will assist them in completing many different types of comprehension questions.
Types of Comprehsion Questions 1. Right There - Students can find the answers directly in the text
These questions are typically the easiest for students to understand as many times the answer can be found in the text with the same or similar wording to the question.
The most difficult portion of these questions is simply locating the information in the text, students can learn to become better at locating the information by practicing scanning for key words and recalling the sequence of events in the story to identify where the information should be pulled from.
Ex: What were the gingerbread man's buttons made of? "The gingerbread man's buttons were made of..
2. Think and Search - Students must use pieces of information throughout the text to discover the answer
In order to answer these questions, students must use several pieces of information throughout the text and then synthesize the information in order to generate the correct answer
Again these questions are not extremely difficult for students as it is still a literal question in which the answer can be found in the text. Students should be encouraged to practice recognizing relevant information and synthesizing it in order to answer the question
Ex: What did the old woman learn for the next time she made a gingerbread man?
3. Author and Me
This form of comprehension question can present a new challenge for students as they are required to recognize the fact that they are being asked to use information from the text, but to then use their own skills of evaluation in order to create a reasonable answer.
Students may become overwhelmed in attempting to find the answer in the text and yet it is not available
Teachers must assist students in learning how use the information within the text to guide their answers, and create answers that are reasonable based on information from the text
Example: Was it a good idea for the gingerbread man to climb on the back of the fox?
4. On my Own
While students have the most freedom with these types of questions, they can be difficult for students to understand the relationship between the questions and the text and that they are being asked to write something that is only loosely related to the story and not directly derived from it.
Oftentimes students have been asked to complete a work like this, but with the teacher's guidance in understanding that freedom of the answers, therefore it is import for teachers to draw upon their prior knowledge and assist students in recognizing key vocabulary that would signal the fact that the question is asking for the students to answer on their own.
This video demonstrates the different types of comprehension questions and how teachers can use these to teach their students how to decode what questions are truly asking, using the familar story of the Gingerbread Man.
Many times students become confused and are challenged with answering comprehension questions simply because they do not understand what the question is asking them. By teaching students how to recognize different types of question and how to answer those, the students will gain skills that will assist them in completing many different types of comprehension questions.
Types of Comprehsion Questions
1. Right There - Students can find the answers directly in the text
2. Think and Search - Students must use pieces of information throughout the text to discover the answer
3. Author and Me
4. On my Own
This video demonstrates the different types of comprehension questions and how teachers can use these to teach their students how to decode what questions are truly asking, using the familar story of the Gingerbread Man.